Wayne Rooney is already seeing an anger-management expert and the Professional Footballers' Association last night told Manchester United that other options are available to the combustible forward, including "lifestyle coaching" at Tony Adams' Sporting Chance clinic. Joey Barton, a serial offender at Manchester City, has already benefited from professional counselling and the PFA believes Rooney could improve with external help.

"[He has] great talent and you don't want to see it wasted for the sake of poor temperament," said Gordon Taylor, the PFA's chief executive. "There is a much broader use of counselling and psychology among footballers these days, particularly for those who find themselves in difficult situations on and off the field. Clinics such as Sporting Chance can help."

Rooney can certainly use Barton as a prime example of someone for whom specialised help has worked, although it will not be easy to convince Sir Alex Ferguson that one of his players could spend worthwhile time in a centre set up to treat players suffering from depression, alcoholism and other addictions.The indications are that Ferguson and his colleagues have decided they have sufficient experience of handling volatile players to deal with Rooney in-house.

That process began with United's manager angrily remonstrating with the teenager in the dressing-room after Wednesday's game at Villarreal and it continued yesterday when the club fined him a fortnight's wages for the red card he was shown after he had sarcastically applauded the referee Kim Milton Nielsen for booking him.

Ferguson's tactic is to adopt an aggressive stance followed by a period of arm-round-the-shoulder consolation and the likelihood is that he will not be swayed by the PFA, despite Taylor's observations that Rooney could improve as a footballer and as a man. "The essence of psychology or counselling is that it has to be wanted by the individual or pressed upon them, as with Joey Barton," said Taylor. "Joey is seeing the benefits of regular meetings with a counsellor and we have also done some successful work with Richard Dunne, who then went on to become Manchester City's player of the year."

Part of the issue is that Ferguson remains very much an old-school manager in an age when there is more sympathy for the pressures on young sportsmen and help is readily available. He has the technology to study the exact distance Rooney runs in every match, the speed at which he strikes the ball and the percentage of successful passes he completes. There is no computer, however, that can get inside Rooney's brain and after 30 years in management Ferguson believes he is as well equipped as anyone to "retain [Rooney's] good habits while eradicating the bad ones". United employed a sports psychologist during Steve McClaren's time as assistant manager but the role was vacated when he left.

It is enough for Ferguson that the 19-year-old occasionally has one-on-one sessions with Jeannie Horsfield, an anger-management counsellor. Few players have been on these courses and fewer still have admitted it publicly. Andy Morrison, the former Manchester City centre-half, is one. Football Federation Australia, meanwhile, insisted on Frank Farina undergoing counselling after he clashed with a television reporter, an incident that required police intervention, during his term in charge of the national team.

"It's a case of prevention is better than cure," says Morrison. "I was at Huddersfield, regularly in trouble, when someone advised me to do something about my temper. You can't take a notepad on the pitch and write down: 'Careful, you're starting to get wound up!' But you can work at handling it, and that's a start."

Rooney's own problems have become a recurring theme, both for club and country, and Sven-Goran Eriksson must have winced from his position in the VIP enclosure at El Madrigal. The England coach has once had to substitute Rooney before half-time to save him from being sent off, and he gave serious thought to doing it again midway through last week's defeat at Windsor Park.

At club level Rooney is also responsible, unofficially, for the Football Association implementing a new law that allows referees to send off players who swear at them. In February even the worst lip-reader would have been taken aback by his sustained verbal attack on Graham Poll during United's game at Arsenal. Even when he scored his goal-of-the-season volley against Newcastle United in April, he had spent the previous few moments screaming abuse at Neale Barry.

"His temperament is always there to be questioned because he plays on the edge," Rio Ferdinand said yesterday. "He wouldn't be the same player if you took it away. I know that's a cliché, but it's true."

Other team-mates have trotted out similar lines, but research in psychology has shown that a footballer's rage, when it goes too far, almost always leads to a drastic decline in concentration and performance. Roy Keane, for one, will back that up, and Ferguson wants the United captain and his other experienced players to help Rooney manage his temper. United face a potentially explosive match at Liverpool on Sunday and the one certainty is that Rooney needs to learn fast.

Catalogue of shame

December 26, 2002Birmingham 1 Everton 1

Rooney's first red card follows a foul on Steve Vickers in a Premiership match at St Andrews. A week later, as the new year opens, a fifth booking of the season condemns him to a four-match ban. Is then booked in his next match, an FA Cup defeat at Shrewsbury. Finishes the 2002-03 season with as many goals as bookings - eight. There is more seasonal angst at Old Trafford on Boxing Day 2003, when Rooney, still with Everton, lunges at Cristiano Ronaldo and is shown a yellow card. A couple of minutes later his rant at officialdom is only calmed down by a then England team-mate Nicky Butt, playing for Manchester United at the time.

November 17 2004 Spain 1 England 0

Rooney is substituted a minute before half-time in a friendly international in Madrid, having been booked for pushing the home goalkeeper Iker Casillas and appearing to be on the verge of committing a further offence that would have led to a red card. Boxing Day 2004 finds Rooney, by now with Manchester United, again failing to display any festive spirit as he is charged with violent conduct after shoving Bolton's Tal Ben Haim in the face. He is banned for three matches. In February 2005 his reputation takes another nosedive as he reportedly swears over 100 times at the referee Graham Poll during United's 4-2 victory over Arsenal.

September 7 2005 N Ireland 1 England 0

Booked for a foul on Keith Gillespie and kicks the ball at David Healy, missing him, in a World Cup qualifier in Belfast. Picks up a yellow card for his conduct and sarcastically applauds the referee. The England captain David Beckham intervenes and pulls Rooney away, and harsh words are exchanged. After a couple more borderline challenges which see the 19-year-old lucky to escape a second yellow, the row continues with Beckham in the dressing room at half-time. The assistant manager Steve McClaren is reportedly also given a mouthful when he tries to calm things down. Sven-Goran Eriksson eventually restores order.

September 15 2005 Villarreal 0 Man Utd 0

Dismissed during Manchester United's goalless Champions League draw in Spain for sarcastically applauding the hard-line Danish referee Kim Milton Nielsen, who had cautioned him after a sequence of three quick fouls, the last on the Spanish side's theatrical defender Quique Alvarez. This latest sending-off takes the 19-year-old England forward's club-career record of misdemeanours to two red cards and 32 bookings in a 125-match career. He has scored 37 goals in all competitions for two clubs in that time.